Behind the Scenes – New Collection Photoshoot

Last week we had a photoshoot of the Haruka New Collection for the website. The shoot focused on our new jersey fabric. A thick, knitted cotton. We have three colours; heather, indigo blue, and moss green. The weave is a marl, so it’s not a flat colour. We all love the gentle colour palette – Amanda says it reminds her of Scottish highland landscapes. Nature is always a big inspiration. It’s the first time we’ve used this fabric and it took two years to get it from concept to production to the shop floor! Now it’s finally here, this fabric is super high quality and will last a long time. We love the softness and the gorgeous earthy colours. It washes brilliantly, Wendy can testify to this – she has only taken her jersey bubble dress of to wash! It’s snuggley fabric (and a big bonus – it doesn’t need ironing! It’s amazing for that – it made the photo shoot so easy). I think it’s clear that all of us at Haruka are very excited.

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The styles are gorgeous – we have brought back the swirl top with an exaggerated cowl to go over the head. And the most exciting – the Haruka bubble dress is back in a new form!   

Planning the photo shoot firstly involved choosing models. Amanda has never used professional models for Haruka – only ever been friends, and women from the community. There’s this way that Haruka is an ever-growing family of women supporting each other and it means that there’s always a lot of gorgeous women of all ages to invite to model the clothes. There has never been a temptation to pigeon hole the Haruka look into one age group or body type – diversity is key!  Amanda chose Dot and Gabby as the models this time, because they are polar opposite in many ways. Opposite age groups, different ethnicity, but they are both really funky women, and then it turns out they have the same birthday! Part of doing the shoot is to show that Haruka clothes are for all women.   

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Before the shoot day Amanda is always there putting the outfits together for a week beforehand, trying out combinations and colour matches. Dot came in to try on the clothes before the photo shoot to check for sizing, and she really reminded Amanda of what her job is as a designer. Dot looked so amazing in the clothes when she came for her trial, that Amanda remembered why she does what she does, and felt inspired all over again by her designs.

The photo shoot team was Amanda, Sophie Harrison helping, Luana was doing the hair and makeup, Gabby – model and DJ, and Dimitrius, photographer and artist. Dot was modelling, she is a seamstress so really understands textiles. Sophie Jenna was working in the shop downstairs but popping up to help with the shoot, and as a team of creatives and artists the day was full of fun and laughter and music – we hope it comes across how much fun we were having. We try to make the Haruka photo shoot a fun day with lots of work hard play hard and we try to show that in the photos.

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Amanda and Sophie were styling the shoot but the models too, were choosing how to style their own outfits, and adding accessories that they feel suits the clothing or represents themselves. Individuality is celebrated! With the photo shoot, and with the Haruka brand in general, it feels really important to empower women to be themselves, to enjoy their bodies and their personalities and really own being who they are. The photo shoots we do for the clothes are an opportunity to be creative and to celebrate women! We really want to embrace the diversity of women who wear Haruka and celebrate each other and our differences!

If you have any photos of yourself in your favourite Haruka outfit, please send them to us at harukaclothing@googlemail.com as we would love to see them and share them on our social platforms!   

Thank you for reading

Unfold your own myth 

Sophie Jenna and Amanda x